EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1985 No 383
PUBLIC SERVICE REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)
Issued with the authority of the Public Service Board
Sub-section 97(1) of the Public Service Act 1922 (the Act) provides, inter alia, that the Public Service Board may, with the approval of the Governor-General, make regulations prescribing all matters which are required or permitted to be prescribed, or which are necessary or convenient to be prescribed, for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.
The Public Service Regulations have hitherto made provision relating to the establishment, constitution and procedures of Disciplinary Appeal Boards. Under the Merit Protection (Australian Government Employees) Act 1984 (Merit Protection Act) the Merit Protection and Review Agency (the Agency) is to have responsibility for the establishment, constitution and procedures of Disciplinary Appeal Committees (as they are henceforth to be described).
In related papers (Executive Council Minutes Nos 19 and PSB 1985/41 refer) it is recommended that 1 January 1986 be fixed by Proclamation as the day on which the provisions of the Merit Protection Act relating to Disciplinary Appeal Committees shall come into operation, and on which provisions of the Act relating to Disciplinary Appeal Boards shall be repealed.
To enable the transfer of responsibility from the Public Service Board to the Agency it is necessary for provisions in the Public Service Regulations relating to Disciplinary Appeal Boards to be repealed. Comparable provisions will be included in the Merit Protection (Australian Government Employees) Regulations made under the Merit Proection Act (Executive Council Minute No 20 refers). Details of the amendments to the Public Service Regulations are set out below.
Regulation 1 provides for the regulations to come into operation on 1 January 1986.
Regulations 2 to 21 either amend or repeal a number of the regulations of the Public Service Regulations from r.139 to r.167 dealing with the disciplinary process for the following reasons:
• in the case of repeals - because the regulations in question concern the establishment, constitution
and procedures of Disciplinary Appeal Boards, and similarly worded regulations (referring to Committees rather than Boards) are to be made under the Merit Protection Regulations;
• to substitue ‘Committee’ for ‘Board’ where appropriate;
• to amend or insert references to provisions in the Act, the Merit Protection Act and the Merit Protection Regulations where appropriate;
• to substitute ‘Agency’ or ‘Director’ (of the Agency) for ‘Public Service Board’ where appropriate;
• to leave intact provisions relating to Boards of Inquiry, which are the appellate bodies in relation to Senior Executive Service officers and which are to remain under the control of the Public Service Board; and
• to make certain amendments to relevant regulations to reflect amendments being made simultaneously to the Act (see Executive Council Minute No PSB 1985/41).
The proposed regulations are to come into operation on 1 January 1986. They are therefore made in reliance on s.4 of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901, which provides that, where an Act has not yet come into operation (see minute No. PSB 1985/41), regulations may be made as if the Act had commenced, but the regulations shall not take effect until the Act commences.